Weeks went by and Matthew slowly regained his voice, I was overwhelmed with happiness finally being able to hear his soft angelic voice. Although a side effect was still lurking within him, he now had constant nightmares that would leave him drenched in cold sweat every night, I would ask him what his nightmares were about but he would always keep quiet.

Tonight was another routine, he woke up crying and I was there to soothe him. "It's okay Mattie I'm here...no one will hurt you." I rubbed his back soothingly. "No..that's not it.." He whimpered, his white bear rested near his feet sleeping soundly. "Will you tell me what your dream was about?" I asked desperately. Of course, I didn't expect him to answer but when he looked up at me with glossy purple eyes I was taken by surprise. "..remember about a year ago...you tried to kill yourself." He grabbed my hand and held it tightly. "In my dream you...you just.." He trailed off and swallowed trying to hold back tears. "..disappeared.."

That final word, I knew it meant something else. "I'm not going to leave you, I'm no longer depressed." I stated eagerly. ".. I found something worth living." I lifted his chin so I could fully meet his beautiful eyes. "You did?" he whispered, "yup..and that something is you." I placed a kiss on his soft lips, they tasted like maple syrup. I pulled away and placed my hand on his cheek. "I'm going to stay here with you I promise." I kept him close and kissed the top of his head.

I quietly hummed a tune and he eventually drifted back to sleep, I smiled and softly ran my hand through his hair. "Just you wait, I'm going to beat Cuba up for hurting you." He snuggled up against me and silently whimpered in his sleep. "...stay..." I chuckled under my breath and held him closer. "I promise." I rested my chin on the top of his head and fell into a comfortable sleep.

The next morning I was awoken by the sound of Arthur cursing and a pot clattering on the floor, Matthew jolted awake and took a shaky breath. "It's okay, it was just Arthur trying to cook again," I reassured with a smile. "Can we go check on him? Just to see if he's alright." Matthew held his bear in his arms and looked at me with pleading. "Sure, let's go." I helped him off the bed and held his hand as we walked to the kitchen.

Francis was wrapping Arthur's hand with a bandage. "Be careful next time you're near the oven." He lectured the brit and softly kissed his injured hand. "Right..." Arthur mumbled a blush crept to his cheeks. "You're lucky it was just a minor burn." In all honesty, Francis was mentally freaking out. He wondered if he should've taken his love to the hospital to check if the burn was bad instead of just soaking it with cool water and smearing cream on it.

Arthur sighed and rolled his eyes easily noticing the worry in Francis's eyes. "Love don't worry, I'm fine." He reassured and placed a kiss on his cheek, I chuckled and gave out a wolf whistle. "Look at these two love birds. I'm pretty sure its a mess in their room right Mattie?" I winked at him and laughed. "D-don't say that Alfred! That's not nice." He stammered wearily.

I bent down a little and kissed his nose. "You get easily flustered you know that?" I chuckled but was cut short when I was pulled away by the collar of my shirt by Francis. "Stop teasing mon petit Matthieu." he frowned and released me. "And stop saying such absurd comments about me and the frog," Arthur muttered with his arms crossed across his chest. "Well it is true isn't it?" this time I was whacked with a roll of the newspaper by Francis.

I winced and looked at him only to be greeted with a wink and him pressing his pointer finger against his lips as if telling me to keep it a secret, I grinned and nodded in agreement. "Oh right, Alfred it seems we have run out of butter. Could you perhaps buy some from the market close by?" Francis pleaded and glanced at Mattie. "You should go to Matthieu, you need some fresh air." He suggested. "Alright." I grabbed ahold of Mattie's wrist and pulled him toward the front door.

"Don't destroy the house while we're gone," I called out before they could call out to me in the complaint I quickly exited the house with Mattie right behind me. "Alfred that was really mean." He frowned. His bear was clutched to his chest being held by his free arm. "I'm just messing around with them." I released his wrist and patted his shoulder. "Besides I think they know its true." Mattie rolled his eyes and shook his head.

By the time we made it to the market, it began to rain and the cool wind made me worry. With Mattie's asthma, this weather could trigger it again. "Let's hurry and go inside." I ushered him into the store. "Is everything alright Alfred?" he asked in concern. "Yup I'm just really eager to get back home," I exclaimed. "But there's nothing to do." He pointed out. "Of course there's something to do!' I exclaimed. " We have lots of cuddling to do!"

He looked up at me and giggled, "you're silly Alfie." I laughed and immediately leaned down and kissed his cheek which caught him by surprise. "I'm sorry I just...agh! I love you so much!" I pulled him into a tight hug. "Holy maple Alfred..me and Komachi can't breathe!" he gasped. "Oops, sorry." I released him and intertwined our fingers. "Let's just hurry and get the butter okay?" I suggested. "Okay.." He mumbled and nodded.

We made it to the refrigerated aisle and I searched for the butter I heard him sneeze. "You have a cute little kitten sneeze." I teased playfully and pressed our foreheads together so our noses were touching, his nose was cold and I began to panic. I didn't want him to get sick again, he would have another coughing fit and then his asthma would start up again. I quickly pulled away and thoroughly searched for the butter, I grabbed a pack of stick butter and hurriedly pulled Mattie away from the aisle.

He tripped and stumbled on his own feet keeping a tight grasp on his bear. "Alfred please stop." He begged quietly, I instantly felt guilty and stopped. "I'm sorry Mattie." I turned to him and I felt even more guilty when I saw his fear filled eyes. "I'm sorry, I just want to get home as soon as possible." When we made it to the check-out department I was able to see outside. It was raining harder. My stomach dropped and I tightly gripped onto Mattie's delicate and pale hand.

He tensed for a while until he slowly calmed down and kept quiet, I paid for the butter and secured it safely in its paper bag. "It's really raining hard out there." Mattie mumbled, "yeah, I think we should run." I just wanted my Mattie to be safe, I didn't want him to get sick again. Ever since he was a child his health was always so fragile, he would always catch colds and get severe fevers I honestly blamed Francis for not taking care of him properly.

I shrugged off my jacket and draped it over his shoulders and zipped it up to his chin his bear was still in his arms but at least it would be safe and warm, on the other hand, Mattie looked so cute in my jacket, it was big on him but he kept it close to him with a blush still painted on his cheeks. "Thank you, Alfie." He moved his gaze to the ground. "I just don't want you to get soaked in the rain." I put on a fake smile to hide my worry. "What about you? Won't you get wet?" he asked worriedly. "Don't worry, heroes always think about their loved ones first." I smiled widely and gave him a thumbs up.

When we both exited the market I quickly grabbed ahold of his hand and walked down the sidewalk. "Alfred..there's no need to rush you know." he quietly called out to me. "R-right.." I took a shaky breath and slowly calmed myself down. "I just-" I stopped at mid-sentence when I saw a familiar figure walking to their car. Anger then boiled inside of me, my hands balled into tight fists but when I heard Mattie whimper I realized I was squishing his hand.

I instantly eased my grip and lifted his hand to my lips. "I'm so sorry." I apologized guiltily and kissed his hand. "Alfred, you've been acting weird ever since we left the house. Are you sure everything is alright?" his voice was laced with concern. "I'm positive," I stated and kept on walking toward the person. I was just a few feet away until they finally noticed me and froze in fear.

Cuba, he was standing just two feet away from me and Matthew, his eyes were wide and filled with fear. "A-America..." I gritted my teeth in anger as he spoke my name. "You...I've been looking for you." Matthew looked at me with a fear-stricken expression. I released his hand and stalked toward Cuba, the rain poured down harshly now soaking me down to the bone I glanced at Matthew who began to shiver and held my jacket closer to him.

I looked back at Cuba and grasped onto the collar of his shirt. "You're going to pay," I muttered and rose my fist ready to send a blow to his face, but before I could act Matthew quickly ran in between us and glared at me with such terror it literally broke my heart. "What are you doing!?" he yelled, "violence is never the answer to a situation!" I don't know if it was the rain or actual tears that began to flow down his cheeks but I quickly came to my senses and lowered my fist at the frightened Cuban.

He turned to face Cuba who had quickly cowered away from me. "Canada..." He slowly made his way toward him and he did the most unexpected thing. He fell to his knees and sobbed in front of Matthew. "Please!...please forgive me!" his pleads were mixed with his pain filled sobs. "I didn't want to hurt anyone, I just wanted a chance of revenge. For what America did..he left me..when I needed him the most." I gasped in shock, I knew what he was talking about.

It was around the 1900s during the Cold War there was a small revolution that was held against Cuba, he was one of my closest friends but when he lost and was taken over we drifted apart and we began to hate each other. I abandoned him, I caused pain to my closest friend. I was an idiot. Matthew kneeled to the ground and unzipped the jacket, his bear crawled out and he wrapped his frail arms around the distressed Cuban. "I...I forgive you.." He muttered to him with a small ghost of a smile placed on his lips.

Cuba was hesitant at first but eventually hugged him back and cried on his shoulder. "I promise I'll make it up to you." He pulled away from the embrace and wiped away his tears. "Alfred.." I jumped when he used my actual name. ".. I'm sorry." The regret in his voice made me want to punch myself in the gut. "No, I'm sorry I left you...you're still and always will be...my friend." I flashed him a grin. "I forgive you Cuba."

And for the first time since he arrived here, he smiled happily. "Thank you." With that said he turned to his car. "I guess I'll see you around." He looked at me. "I promise I'll no longer hurt any of your loved ones." With that, he hopped into his car and drove off in the heavy rain. "..hey Alfred.." Mattie was still kneeling on the ground, I went up to him and helped him up. "Yeah Mattie?" he looked at me and smiled. "I'm glad you worked things out with him." His bear was in his arms and I zipped up the jacket again.

I kissed his cheek. "Yeah, I'm glad too." By now we were both soaking in the rain I once again grabbed his free hand and particularly ran down the sidewalk, I was careful enough so that we both wouldn't slip. Finally, we made it back to the house and I shoved Mattie inside. "Quick take off your clothes!" I shouted in concern. "W-what!? Why!?" he backed away from me. "Don't ask questions just do it!" of course he refused so I had no choice but to tackle him.

"Alfred stop it!" he complained, his bear jumped out of the jacket in a complete panic. "No just let m-" I was cut off when a rolling pin was whacked on top of my head. "Ow! What the heck!?" why was everyone hitting me so much!? I looked up to see Francis and Arthur staring at me in complete shock. "Bloody hell Alfred what has gotten into you?" Arthur asked. "I swear it's not what you think, I would never do anything to hurt Mattie...you see it was cold outside and it started raining. I just don't want Mattie to get sick again." I got up from the ground and helped Mattie up.

I groaned and rubbed the painful bump on my head as I handed Francis the bag of butter and went up to the room with Mattie where we both changed into warm clothes. "I'll be okay Alfred, there's no need to worry." He smiled and kissed my cheek. "Will you be okay though? That was a pretty big rolling pin." He giggled and softly patted my head. "I'll be fine don't worry about it." I smiled at him. "I love you." He wrapped his arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him close. "I love you too."

And just when our lips were about to connect our moment was quickly over when Francis called from downstairs. "Oi Alfred, you got the wrong butter!" I groaned in annoyance. "Dang it," I muttered.

The next day soon arrived and a package had arrived for both me and Mattie, it was a multi-colored cooler and inside were two tubs of ice cream one was strawberry and the other was mint chocolate chip. There was a sticky note that read,
Dear Alfred and Matthew I hope you two enjoy these ice creams thank you so much for your forgiveness -C

I smiled widely.

"Thanks, buddy."